Shift
by KageSakura
Summary: Sometimes friendships change feelings develop and we find ourselves wondering if everything is in vain. Sometimes life moves so fast and we are dragged along. It’s enough to make you want to write a song about it.
1. Minor Setbacks

New Story, new anime, writing Digimon fics now. Been a Sorato fan forever so I thought to myself 'why the heck not?'

Enjoy.

_**Shift.**_

_**Edited- August 18, 2009  
**_

_**Summary:**__** Sometimes friendships change feelings develop and we find ourselves wondering if everything is in vain. Sometimes life moves so fast and we are dragged along. It's enough to make you write a song about it.**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own a lot of things; Digimon is not one of them. Oh, but the song is mine. Purely KageSakura so don't steal please and thank you.**_

_**Ship: Matt x Sora**_

_Chapter One- Minor setbacks_

_How can it be that life passes us by_

_Have you ever wondered why?_

_And here we are standing around_

_World outta control_

_Spinning out of control_

_And I can't let go_

_But I don't feel like standing arou_

"ARGH! No. No. No. !!!"

I dragged my eraser over my scratchy writing, leaving a pink mark of residue over the mayhem. I was totally not in the mood for song writing.

Taking out a fresh sheet of paper I tried again, and by try I mean stared at it blankly for five minutes. _This is not working out._

After about ten more unproductive minutes I admitted defeat. I got up stretching and glanced at the clock: 4:53 AM. I should have gone to bed hours ago, but it's not like my dad is around to yell at me for breaking night again. He recently got a promotion at that TV station of his and that meant more hours, meaning, he was home only in the day, which he took to sleeping. I never saw my old man anymore, but I can honestly say it's not any different from how it's always been.

I made my way to the kitchen in the dark, my head ached and I needed an aspirin. Well considering I had just spent so many hours staring at my homework and song lyrics by the light of a desk lamp, I wasn't surprised.

Fumbling in the cabinet I found the aspirin and instinctively popped it into my mouth washing it down with a glass of water. Then a weird realization came over me: _Sora is gonna yell at me again. _

The redhead had recently taken to thinking she was my mother or something, and lectured me on how breaking night every night would lead me to an early grave, and she wasn't going to stand by and watch it happen. Whatever that meant…seriously she always worries too much.

5:15 AM. _Maybe I should go lie down_.

I made my way to my room, got into my bed and blacked out.

OooooooOooooooooooOoooooooooooooOoooooooO

The next day I made it to school just as the bell rang. I sat in the back of the class hearing my teacher's drawling voice somewhere in the distance. He could have been speaking Russian for all I knew; I was so out of it. I was counting the ceiling tiles (68) for the third time, when I heard my name being called.

"Huh?" I snapped out of it.

"Mr. Ishida, as you seem to be concentrating so hard I was wondering if you could enlighten the class on the importance of the drosphilia model in molecular genetics."

I blinked. I could hear people whispering to each other, some of them laughing.

"Um…."I said slowly…_I read this last night._ I tried not to blush knowing that Miyamoto would get a kick out of it, he loves torturing students. I was his favorite victim.

_Come on! Drosophilia model in genetics…_I pleaded with my brain. Then it all came back to me.

Miyamoto sensei was already looking in his grade book, a red pen between his fingers. "Well it seems Mr. Ishida is getting a ze--"

"Wait you didn't let me say anything," I responded. "It's because the drosphilia fly has only four chromosomes one of which is sex-linked making it easy to identify the locations mutations on different alleles and is a classic example of simple Mendilian inheritance." I'm sure I quoted the text book at that moment, but it didn't really matter. I had won this round.

Miyamoto froze, a look of disappointment and surprise painted perfectly on his rigid face. I smirked. This was killing him inside, he had been so eager to give me that zero.

Before he could say anything Risa Takahashi, the class brainiac, spoke up. "He's right you know, sensei."

His lips formed a thin line. "Of course," he said. "Now let us turn back to chapter 24…."

I turned and thanked Risa who sat behind me. She smiled and showed me what page we were currently reading.

_This is going to be a long day, I think to myself._

OooooooOooooooooooOoooooooooooooOoooooooO

At around lunch time I made my way outside, to the spot where all the cherry trees are. I saw the familiar bushy head of my best friend Tai. As I approached him I noticed Sora was with him too. She glanced in my direction and made a face.

"What?" I asked.

"You broke night again." It was a simple statement but the way she said made it sound like: _"Why don't you just jump off a bridge while your at it?"_

She started to say something else but her friend, Keiko, Reiko—whatever, came up from nowhere and tapped her shoulder. "Sora we have to get going…"

"Oh yeah, you're right," Sora smiled sheepishly. She turned to Tai and me. "You're going to be at the game on Wednesday right?" You see, Sora had recently joined the tennis team, and was actually doing pretty well.

I nodded.

Tai got this really weird grin on his face.

"Of course! Girls in short skirts hitting balls around, I wouldn't miss it!" he laughed.

I groaned. So did Sora. Keiko What's Her Face, just stared.

"You'll have to forgive Tai," I sighed. "The lack of attention from the opposite sex has driven him down the path of perversion."

"No kidding..." What's Her Face sweatdropped. Like in those anime shows you know, she actually did it.

It took Tai a good minute to react. "What did you just call me?!"

I burst out laughing as he threw a punch at me.

"Well as fun as it is watching you guys hit each other I have to get going," said an amused Sora. See you guys around."

Tai watched her leave and then turned to me. "What was that all about?"

"Your perverted ways scared them away," I joked. I took a seat under one of the cherry trees and took out my lunch. Man, was I hungry.

"No," said Tai looking serious, he does that once in a while. "Sora keeps letting herself get dragged away by those tennis girlfriends of hers." He sat down and started on his own bento box.

I shrugged. I didn't find it weird; so she has other friends. "You know Tai, she does have a life besides us guys. I think it's good for her to be hanging out with new people, especially girls. I mean, ever since Mimi left, she is the only girl in our group. I can see why she needs a break from all the testosterone."

"I guess…"

I smirked, I couldn't help it. The look on his face was so pathetic; he looked like his favorite soccer ball has just deflated. "Cheer up, man. It's not like you won't see her tomorrow."

Then a thought occurred to me. "Dude, don't tell you're jealous…."

"Of course not!" he said a little too hastily. His face was all friend.

"You really are, you're jealous!"

"Cut it out Matt!"

I started laughing again, once again at the expense of my best friend's misery. I'm a horrible person. "Tai, they're just girls they aren't gonna kidnap her or anything. Besides Sora still likes hanging out with you a lot more than with them. They don't even compare to your….uh…." I ate a mouthful of rice and chewed thoughtfully.

"Dashing good looks?" Tai grinned.

I almost choked. "No way, man."

"You don't think I'm attractive, Matt?"

_I think I just lost my appetite._

"Dude, seriously. You need some serious help." I said wrapping up my lunch for later. _Thanks a lot Tai._

Tai laughed. "I guess you're right…about that…but also, you're right man I should let her roam free and be her own person, even if it does mean she is hanging with the Barbie tennis crew."

"It's the perfect substitute for Mimi." I thought aloud. If you seriously think about it, it is!

Tai burst out laughing. "You crack me up Ishida, come on man, the bells about to ring."

I got up and walked with him to our next class. Linear Algebra.

_Maybe I'll sleep through the next class,_ I thought yawning.

OooooooOooooooooooOoooooooooooooOoooooooO

The day went by without further consequence and I found myself walking home, with a ton of homework to get done. My band had called my cell phone, luckily practice was canceled. I got to my apartment and quietly (because my dad was asleep in his room) made it to my room.

After about two hours of reading for Biology and two more hours of algebra and physics, I decided to take a break. I went to the kitchen and cooked up some fried rice and took it with me to my room. I still had to do my English homework, so I took out my English book and started reading aloud through mouthfuls of rice.

"_A sentence should have a subject and predicate. Other wise it is considered a fragment. When speaking one must also address a subject in a sentence as well as the predicate to evoke a complete thought. For example Mary is a college student, who attends Tokyo University. Mary is the subject of this sentence."_

I flipped through a couple more pages and read through lists of vocabulary words I needed to memorize. Some of which I couldn't even pronounce, and the weird spelling of the words made it worse. "I definitely should have taken French instead."

Somewhere between, _adoration_ and _guilt _the phone rang. I picked it up on the third ring.

"Ishida residence."

"Oh? Matt?" the feminine voice on the other line sounded confused.

"Yes that's me."

"This is Sora….I'm so sorry…I meant to call Tai."

"Oh, well I have his new cell number if you need it," I said.

"No, no. It's fine, in fact…do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Not at all. What's up?"

"Well…that is….I heard, does Tai like me?"

I suddenly felt really awkward. I mean, I had always had the feeling that Tai and Sora (at the risk of sounding corny) were sorta meant for each other. And I knew for a fact that he liked her, despite all this denial. I, along with everyone else in our group was basically waiting for them to cut the act announce their wedding already. It seemed Sora didn't get that memo, or she maybe was just as stubborn as Tai was when it came to absolute denial.

"Um..." I started awkwardly. I thought about pretending I knew nothing. I didn't want to cause problems.

"Please Matt…" the voice on the other side of the phone sounded almost desperate. At that moment I knew I would give in. It was Sora, and she could get me to do anything with one simple phrase. It had been that way since junior high and she knew it perfectly well.

"Well…I started again. "I'm not sure I…gaahhhh why must you put me in this position!"

"Because you're his best friend besides me, and I need to clear it up. All these rumors flying around I have the right to know if their true." I stood silent ear to the phone contemplating on what to tell her without revealing too much. She switched tactics, "_Please_ Matt."

_Damn you Sora._

"Sora, you seriously don't know?" I almost smacked myself for getting caught up in this. But as I had said before she had this strange power over me. Girls are like that, and between Mimi and Sora, the guys and I always found our resolve to say "no" futile.

"Know what?"

I ran a hand through my hair, choosing my words carefully. "Tai…that is…yea Tai likes you, he likes you a lot, see. At least he has since day one." _Great now Tai is gonna kill me if he finds out._

"Why didn't he just tell me? I had to find out via a rumor from a bunch of freshmen…"

"Well I…all of us were under the impression that you knew…and that you liked him back …but you two were both too stubborn to say anything. That is the case right?"

"I—I'm sorry…I have to go, my mother is calling." And with that she hangs up the phone and my ears are greeted with silence.

I put down the receiver and looked back to my work. "Well that wasn't awkward at all," I said out loud.

_Great I finally get the words together to say to the girl and she just hangs up._

Seriously, didn't she had no idea the position she had put me in. I had relented, the least she could do was listen.

At like 12:53 AM I decided to go to bed, all my homework, readings, papers, and song writing done for the time being. Now Sora couldn't say anything about my "suicidal sleeping patterns" as she put it. Not that staying up late was going to kill me anytime soon. She was so strange.

I got into the bed and looked up at the ceiling lost in thought. Something was bothering me.

I didn't know what it was. Sora hadn't sounded too enthusiastic, so I didn't know what to expect from this whole situation or how Tai would react. All I knew was I was tired and needed sleep. So I closed my eyes and let the dark wave of sleep take over me, leaving all unresolved issues unresolved; issues to be dealt with in the morning.

OooooooOooooooooooOoooooooooooooOoooooooO

_**Tai's POV.**_

I guess you could say I found myself between a rock and a hard place. A few minutes earlier I had been drawing up a schedule for the school soccer team, and then Sora comes out of nowhere demanding to talk. Well her definition of talk was obviously different from mine, because she started yelling about how insensitive I was and then had started crying. I for once, didn't know what to say to make her feel better, and how could I? I didn't know why she was mad at me in the first place!

"Sora," I said putting my hands on her shoulders trying to calm her down. "Please get a hold of your self, tell me what I did to make you this upset!"

Sora jerked away from me, as if I was some poisonous snake. "Don't touch me Tai."

The venom in her voice scared me. _This is definitely not the Sora I know._

"What did I do?" She was getting me so frustrated.

"It's what you didn't do. How come everyone in the school knows about your little crush on me? How come I'm the last to know, and the only way I found out was through a freshman girl whose locker is next to mine?"

"Oh…um…" My mind went numb, I could tell you that much.

"I'd think the great Taichi Yagami would have a greater comeback than that." She laughed bitterly.

"Hey now…how is that my fault? I didn't ask to like you, and I certainly didn't go around telling the whole school anything!" I protested.

"Yeah, and you didn't tell me anything either."

"What's the matter with you? Why on earth are you fighting me Sora? This is as pointless as that time you got mad at me about that hat comment…"

Her amber eyes got wide, and shiny. She looked as if she was going to strangle me. I took a step back in precaution.

"This has a lot more importance than that! How can you even say that Tai? You're always doing this! You say things and then wonder why people get mad. You never stop to think about how your words affect others."

This stung, and she knew it. I tried to keep my anger at a minimum level. This was Sora I was talking to after all, I didn't want to seem more like the jerk that I already was in her eyes. But I couldn't stop my voice from shaking.

"What do you want me to say then? What do you want me to do? You're yelling at me for something I can't control, telling me I'm insensitive when I'm trying to avoid another argument. What do you want from me Sora Takenouchi?" In my frustration I punched a nearby desk, sending a flurry of papers to the ground.

At this Sora calms down a bit, I guess I scared her, but I can't help it. I'm really angry and trying not to lose control, but it's hard.

She was standing by the door, staring at the papers, that had fallen. She bent over to pick them up, and arranged them neatly all the while choosing not to look at me. Finally she got up and laid them on the desk.

She turned to face me her amber eyes weren't so fiery now. Instead something else had replaced them. I couldn't understand what though.

"I want…I want you to stop beating around the subject, I want you to tell me to my face, not find out through the school. Not when I'm one of the closest people to you. I'm not sure why but you're always doing this, is like you don't trust me or something. It's like we have all these misunderstandings…and we are always fighting. Our friendship is hanging by a thread, all the time. I want it to stop, and I don't want to threaten our friendship anymore, or complicate it…"

I took a step towards her; she was still standing straight up looking at me. It took all my will to not wrap my arms around her steady frame.

"Complicate it? I like you Sora, and you like me. How is that complicated?" A whole new wave of foreign emotions took me over; I ran my hand through my hair nervously trying to calm down.

"Tai…I don't want to hurt you or this friendship…" She looked me straight in the eyes.

I suddenly found the blue linoleum floor tiles fascinating.

"Look, I like you…a lot, actually… I already met my end of the bargain; I said it to your face, like you wanted. Now it's your turn. "Do you like me?"

"Tai…"

I almost went over and shook her, but opted to shake the desk between us.

"Answer me!"

"I can't." Those wretched tears were in her eyes again. The ones I couldn't wipe away.

She put her arms around herself, as if she was shielding herself. But she kept on talking.

"I can't…you and I…we would just end up hurting each other... and I just can't…" tears filled her eyes again and this time she began to fully cry. I got scared. Crying girls always freak me out. I wanted to just hold her to me and make her stop, but I stay where I am.

"I'm sorry." I said genuinely. No matter how much I want to I can't be her protector.

"Well I have to be going," I said, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. "See you on Wednesday at your game."

She was eerily silent as I walked out. But I could hear her crying even as I made my way down the hallway.

**A/N- Had to stop it there, but there is alot more to come. Till next time ha been another plot bunny attack come to life by yours truly, KageSakura.**

**Thank you for reading and please review.**


	2. Mixed Feelings

A/N: I think I was on drugs when I first wrote this, I messed up the verb tenses, and the word order was all over the place. So I decided to fix it. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- I don't own Digimon or much of anything else, really.

Chapter 2 :Mixed Feelings

Edited:August 18,2009

_Sora's POV_

I turned the stereo up. Loud. Way loud. The vibration caused my bed which was next to the desk, to rumble slightly. I didn't care. I stuffed my head into my soft pillow, hearing the singers muffled voices.

_Sudden anxiety over not understanding one's self,_

_it's always aiming for us_

_We were deluded by secondhand information and useless commonsense._

_If everyday is tinged with boredom like this,_

_do you even want to go along today?_

_Instead of pretending to be something we don't know,_

_let's find our reality_

_The one thing we can't give away, _

_our pride, hidden in our hearts._

Tears blurred my vision. I tasted salt as I started to sing along. This was Matt's song, the song he and his band had practiced mercilessly after school. Tai and I were the first ones to see it performed, and when they got famous we went to their concert. The truth was that I was the first one to hear it. Matt had sent it to me hoping it would cheer me up when I had eye surgery the previous year. He was always thinking about others.

Tai had in his own way, left a good amount of get well presents with my mom. Both of them were great guys. Which is why it hurt that our friendship could dissolve over something so simple.

_Let's start running, not for anyone else, _

_but because it's better than stopping_

_Cutting through the clear air, _

_turning toward the bright ocean_

_Oh keep on running keep on running_

_Find out your reality._

_There's no time to hesitate in front of the new door_

_Just run up, jump out there, and kick the door down_

_If its you, you can definitely do it._

I sang out louder to the chorus. My throat burned and the tears kept coming.

_Stop crying Sora._

I do admit I was feeling strangely nostalgic. This song was a memory more or less of a time when things were easy. Matt was only about fourteen when he wrote this song, and we were all young when we went to his concert.

Hard to believe almost three years had gone by. And now Tai had to ruin everything, and put our friendship in such a difficult position. Well it wasn't entirely his fault. It was mine as well, for being such an idiot.

I stopped singing when I heard pounding coming from outside the door. Then my mother's voice drifted through. "SORA!!!"

"WHAT?" I shouted over the blaring solo of Akira's acoustic guitar.

"OPEN THE DOOR!" I opened the door and let my mother in. She didn't seem too pleased.

Mom walked over to my desk looking for a way to turn off my stereo. After a few amusing attempts, she pointed to me so I could do it for her.

Silence ensued.

"What did you think you were doing? I could hear you from down in the shop!"

I didn't say anything. I knew from experience that you didn't speak to my mother when she was in such a mood unless you wanted to get grounded.

My reflection in the full length mirror showed that my tears had dried. Which was good because I didn't feel the need to have to explain why I was blasting the stereo and crying.

"The customers at the shop were complaining…"

"I'm sorry."

"Seriously Sora," she said calming down a little. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately. Is something wrong?" She sat on my bed, which meant she wasn't going to leave until I told her what was going on.

"Nothing's wrong. Well nothing I can't handle anyway. I just need some time to myself," I said, knowing it sounded rude.

My mother sighed. "Well Sora if its something you believe you can handle then I'm sure you can. Just remember you can tell me anything."

"I'm fine, really. I just…want to lie down."

My mother got up from the bed, looked at me curiously. "Well then I will give you that much, as long as you don't put that stereo back on." She smiled. "I'm giving you the day off in the shop, but I expect you to be down to dinner at 6pm.

She left the room leaving me in a comfortable silence. A few years earlier my mother and I would have probably had a shouting match and I would have been grounded. Lately, however, we had come to this unspoken agreement to try our best and not hurt one another.

Before the trip to the Digital World we didn't so much as speak. But when I came back home, she told me she didn't want to feel so distant from her daughter. She had kept her promise, and so had I. It was hard to believe that until that point I hadn't realized that she really did love me, and I felt the same towards her.

_I guess that in the end just I'm not that great at understanding deep feelings. Whether I'm the bearer of the Crest of Love or not._

I sighed, and went back to thinking about the current dilemma. As soon as I had arrived home I had instant messaged Tai, trying to tell him how sorry I was for getting angry, but how I felt so hurt he couldn't tell me his feelings up front. We would fight all the time but this time I didn't think we would get over it so easily.

I turned on my pink sidekick and saw to my dismay that he hadn't answered back. He must have felt so crushed. I felt awful. How would our friendship survive this?

I got on the computer to see if his screen name was online, however TaiDye87 was idle. His away message read: _I'm at school catch me on my cell. _So he wasn't home yet.

I had decided to forget about the issue for now and concentration on something else, like the homework due Monday, when a new message popped up.

**TeenWolf411: Hey what's up with Tai? Did you guys get into another fight or something?**

I slammed my poor hand on the desk in surprise. When did Matt get involved in this? Well I had been stupid enough to accidentally dial his number and asked him about the rumors so of course he should be suspicious.

**TeenWolf411: He asked me if I knew what was going on with you. He told me…to tell you…that…he doesn't know why you were so angry but if you don't want to talk to him ever again he completely understands. So….what is going on???**

**SkyGirl7: Ummm…**

I didn't know what to say to that.

**SkyGirl7: To tell you the truth I'm not even sure what went wrong. But...**

I looked at the clock. 4:32 PM. I really didn't feel like talking about something like this online but I needed to vent. That give me an idea.

**SkyGirl7: You know…this type of convo would be better face to face. How about we talk about this…at the park? I need to get out of here anyway. Can you meet me in a half hour**?

**TeenWolf411: Sure no prob. See you in a few.**

I signed off. I got up and took my keys off the dresser, checked my reflection to see if my eyes were still red from crying. All clear. I walked downstairs and told my mom I was going shopping and would be back soon. She nodded her consent and I walked out into the cool afternoon.

_**Matt's POV**_

I walked out of the crowded train station and up into the crowded streets of Odaiba. As I made my way to the City Park I thought about the conversation I had with Tai after school. The dude looked really upset and when I asked him what was going on he had snapped at me.

"_Since when do you care what's going on?" he had said bitterly._

"_Huh?"_

"_Look man, it really isn't your problem, besides I wouldn't want to keep the Great Ishida from his band practice." _

_I felt like I had been slapped. This guy had a serious attitude problem. I decided against punching him in the nose and tried a different approach. "Seriously Tai, what happened? It must have been bad if it turned you into such a jerk."_

_He had this weird look on his face as if he had seen me for the first time. "You're right. I am a jerk…no wonder Sora hates me. Did she say anything to you Matt?"_

_Okay, I couldn't even pretend that I had understood what he was saying._

"_What?" I blinked. _

_Tai looked uneasy. "Well she, Sora just got mad out of nowhere, and I wondered if you knew why?"_

"_Umm..." I tried to think back to the last time I saw Sora. That was earlier in the day and she seemed cheerful enough, so I didn't understand where Tai was coming from. Then I remembered the awkward phone conversation we had had a few nights ago. Could that have anything to do with this?_

"_Look man, I don't know what to say to you," I said at last. "Sora is a girl. Girls get mad sometimes, and sometimes for no reason. What did she say to you?"_

"_Something about me being an insensitive jerk who doesn't take into consideration others feelings…and then she started crying. I have no idea what I got myself into."_

_Okay now I was confused. But Sora was a girl, and she and Tai fought all the time. _

_All the time._

_For many different reasons. Like that time that Sora almost killed Tai for throwing up in her hat and not telling her about it, before she put it on. Or the time they stopped talking because he called her a tomboy with a hat fetish. Or the time they didn't talk for one week because he got her that hairpin for her birthday, saying that all she wore was that stupid hat. Or the time he set her hat on fire and refused to buy her a new one._

_Come to think of it, all the problems they had revolved around that dumb hat of hers, good thing it was gone. But I digress. _

"_You guys are always fighting. How's this different from any other time?"_

"_Yea we fight, but never like this. She was crying, Matt. She was crying because of me. I'm not sure what I said to make her so upset. She hates me now."_

_He turned to face me. _"_Do me a favor?"_

"_Uh, sure man."_

"_Could you tell her…I understand if she never wants to speak to me again, and that I'll stay out of her way."_

"_Um…"_

"_Can you do that?"_

"_Um…Sure man. But I doubt she hates you. Just give it time."_

"_Hopefully." He said._

I snapped out of my reminiscing as a redhead in a yellow jacket ran up to me. "Hey, Matt," she smiled.

"Hey."

We stood for a minute in this awkward silence. The sky was getting darker I noticed, and the honking car horns and traffic and bustling sound of people during rush hour could be heard in the distance.

I felt like an idiot just standing there but I couldn't help it. Sora and I had been friends since 6th grade, but ever since high school started we really didn't see much of each other. She had her tennis practices and I had my band, and for some reason we never hung out anymore even though we went to the same school. Nonetheless I had come here because I cared about what was going on between my two closest friends. I felt as if I owed that much, despite not being around anymore.

Sora had this weird blank look on her face. I'm sure I sported the same blank look. "So…" I said trying to break the silence. "Got into a fight with Tai, huh?"

The confused look turned into one of sadness. "Mm…I don't know what I'm going to do…I think I really hurt him."

"Why not tell me what's going on?" I offered. Between what Tai had told me and what Sora was saying now I was lost puppy.

Sora and I walked over to a nearby bench and she started to tell me everything. She talked about how she felt there was this growing rift between her and Tai, and how she had found out through a girl in her class, and then I confirmed that he had liked her. She talked about how her friends were always trying to get her a boyfriend, and how they tried to hook her up with Tai, whom she considered her best friend. She talked about how was hurt that he never said anything to her about it. How she had liked him when they were younger, but was starting to realize how different they really were. How he was completely clueless. Eventually she had given up on him.

But then a few years later she finds out what he kept as a secret from her all this time. If he had said anything before then, maybe it would have been different but at that point it had made her angry. She had confronted him, and broke his heart when she said she didn't want to ruin their friendship by dating. And how she felt guilty now, and didn't know what she should do next.

I'll admit that most of what she said went right over my head. I am a guy,after all. I don't usually think about such complicated things. It felt strange, to say the least, that Sora would confide in me of all people. We had always been close, but this was the type of stuff she could have talked to Mimi about.

_Mimi isn't here_. I reminded myself. So I listened to everything she had to say in silence, trying to be as supportive as her best friend would have been in my position.

Eventually her voice broke. "I don't want things to change between us, but after this I don't think our friendship will ever be the same. I…don't…this is all my fault!" she sobbed.

I quickly cut her off. "No Sora, this isn't your fault. Sometimes things like this happen and well, it's not anyone's fault." I ran a hand through my hair, not really knowing what else to tell her.

Then she looked up at me and I saw her wide amber eyes were glittering with tears.

"You and Tai, you guys have this type of relationship that no matter what happens you always get through it, and you have always been close friends. The only way to ruin a friendship is by letting trivial things get in the way of what's important. Tai really cares about you and I'm sure he doesn't want to stop being friends because of something like this."

I stopped talking when I realized her eyes were still on me; there was something in them I couldn't describe. It made me feel a bit nervous, but I was glad to see she wasn't all teary eyed like before.

"You're right," she said. "Tomorrow I'm going to talk to him and we'll figure all this out."

"Thank you, Matt." She said softly. Then without any warning she threw her arms around me. I was surprised, but I hugged her back, her warm frame felt so smile against mine.

_Why didn't I ever realize how nice she felt? _I mentally slapped myself. _Where the heck did that perverted thought come from?_

I let go of her abruptly. She smiled at me, apparently not noticing how awkward things were getting and looked up at the now dark blue sky. "It's getting late she said. "I better get going. Thanks for listening Matt.

I scratched the back of my head nervously. "It was nothing, really. I mean that's what are friends are for. Right?"

She nodded and then got up. I followed suit and we made our way out of the park and onto the streets, talking about a whole bunch of things on the way, and making it a point to get the group together to hang out sometime soon.

I waved goodbye at the train station. A strange realization came over me as I watched her fire colored head disappear into the crowd: something in me felt sad to see her go.

_Sora's POV_

I got home exactly as dinner was being served. My mother didn't question where I had been, so I gave no explanation. I helped set the table.

"I need you to tend the flower shop tomorrow." My mother said as she served rice and stir fried vegetables onto our plates.

"Okay," I said.

I sat down and eating and then a thought occurred to me. "Mom," I said aloud.

"What is it dear?"

"About earlier, I'm sorry if I was rude. I think I figured it out."

She nodded and went back to her stir fry.

End of Chapter 2...what did you think? More to come soon. Stay tuned..


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